Air Transport

Safety, Environment, AIM: Three Key Issues! ,Jean-Pierre SANFOURCHE

,Demand for air travel increases rapidly - world-wide by about 5% annually. Between 2000 ~nd 2020 more than 14,000 large new airliners will have been delivered to create a world 'leet of 20,000 airliners after old types are withdrawn, About 40% of world-wide air travel has a European arrival or departure point. What are consequences of these predictions? this article introduces the section on Air Transport, where these problems will be covered n more depth.

or Europe, the predictions listed above emphasise tile need to pay particular attention to Society's needs. The challenge is to improxe passenger and business appeal for air transport whilst absorbing this sus- tained and rapid growth in traffic. It has to be taken

nto consideration that travellers have the aspiration that air ransport growth should be safe and not create environmen- ::al damage and nuisance: the EU's aeronautical strategy has :o embrace the objectives of safer, quieter aircraft producing r:ewer emissions. 'qoreover, Europe needs a very reliable air transport system .'nabling all kinds of business growth, within Europe on the me hand, between Europe and the rest of the world on the ~ther. 'Air Transport' is a svstem in which all the elements ,york interactivelv: aircraft, manufacturing industry, research ,establishments, airlines, airports, air traffic management, the xhole being governed by Society - Market - Passengers needs md political aims.

Safety Xlew generation of aircraft are clearly and significantly safer :han older generations. However, with the growth of trans- 9ortation, the absolute number of accidents' risks increasing in

substantial manner. So, the 'Vision 2020' Position Paper fixes the right trend, declaring: "In 2020, tire skits ,are siTfer than ever !,ecause safety has retnained the top priority of tile aircraft lmilders znd operators and of air tra(fic managers". How are we to take into account this permanent top priority? Bv considering simultaneously and permanently the various :ontributing parts of the whoie air transport system: aircraft, :~ngines, equipment, air traffic management, communication, navigation, surveillance, airports, maintenance, pilot educa- tion and training, procedures, human factors, etc. That means the 'SYSTEMIC APPROACH'. Besides, it is absolutely essen- tial to acquire the best possible understanding of the causes of aviation accidents: all necessary resources must be allocated to accident enquiries. Moreover, special attention must be paid to the potential consequences of new technologies and the intro- duction of new procedures. Lastly, safety must not be compro- mised in pursuit of profit!

Environment

Noise The impact ot noise oil communities around airports has been much reduced as a result of new technology applications. In tile past years, aviation has been able to support traffic growth while achieving dramatic reductions in noise. The example of Heathrow is typical - despite an 80% increase in the number of flights between 1974 and 1999, the number of people disturbed bv noise has dropped by 80%! However, in the perspective of the coming air traffic growth, noise is still a key issue. How are we to ensure that, within a 20 year horizon of time, aircraft noise is no longer a critical problem? By developing quieter engines, optimising operational procedures and also improving land planning and use around airports.

Emissions Whilst noise affects a relatively small number of people, air- craft emissions might affect the whole world population. Over the past 20 years, aircraft fuel consumption per flight has been reduced bv 30-40% so that today, the gross impact of aircraft emissions is relatively small since less than 3.5% of all man- made global CO, emission is attributable to aeronautics. However, the unique effects of aircraft emissions deposited in the upper troposphere or lower stratosphere make them potentially more significant in relation to climate effects. It is surely necessary to pursue technological efforts aiming at reducing engine emissions. Traffic growth threatens to out- pace the rate at which the application of new technologies can deliver improvements. The goal fixed by tile 'Vision 2020' position paper is very severe: "A 50% cut in CO emissiolzs per passenx, er kiMnetre and an 80% cut ill nitrogen oxide emissions". This represents a major technical challenge over the long term.

Air traffic management Air Traffic Management (ATM) is presently one of t}le most visible key issues, attention being attracted from everwvhere to civil ax:iation delays. It is a complex question, standing at

A I R & S P A C E E t J R O P E • V O L . 7~ o N o 3 / 4 2 0 0 1 I ~ i ] l I

THREE KEY ISSUES

the point of convergence of many areas and dealing primari- ly with safety. It is even more complex in Europe because we are working, for air transport operations, under the burden of 49 Air Traffic Control Centres using 22 different operating systems! Taking into consideration this fact, it is evident that the col rect solutions can only be found in a federative approach, seeing beyond national botmdaries and interests. The vear 2000 has seen two major events: (i) the adoption by the Transport Ministers of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) of the ATM Strategy for the Years 2020 and fundamental strategy prepared within EUROCONTROL in close cooperation with all ATM stakeholders; (ii) the setting up by the European Commission of a High Level Group entrusted with the mission to investigate the best possible ways to create a Sin~.[h' Sky for Europe.

This is a good kick-off for the European ATM Action Plan which must lead in 2020 to the situation described b\ the authors of 'Vision 2020'. "Ill 2020, EIIt'OpL" ]1~75 tll~lHtT~cd tO Ct'L'lltL' l~ SL'¢?ttl[['S5 S l/SICtH i t ~t/l' tn!(fiC ,imuTNement that copes with up to thn'c times more ~tinn#) movcmetHs thaH today by ltsiH:z airspwe and airports intctlsivdl: aM safely". Safety, eltviromJtent, air tn{fc mamT~,~emcnt: three ke\ issue~ which are extensively dealt with in the following chapters. •

About the author:

Jean-Pierre Sanfourche is Editor in Chief of Air & Space Europe,